Chronic fatigue syndrome, mitochondrial dysregulation and oxidative Essay

Chronic fatigue syndrome, mitochondrial dysregulation and oxidative stress - Essay Example Its treatment also is through suppression of the symptoms (Myhill 2014). The onset of symptoms of this disorder occurs at the age of early 20s to mid-40s, with a higher group reporting the onset of their symptoms at their early 30s. They can also occur in children aged between 13 and 15 years. Anyone is prone to this syndrome no matter the sex. However, it appears that females are more prone and have a greater chance of ailing this disease; 60-70% are female. The ratio of females to males suffering CFS is 3:1. In the UK, some research reports indicated that the illness was present in 0.5-2% of the population; this estimates about 250000 people in the UK with chronic fatigue syndrome (Thew & Mckenna 2009). Mitochondrial dysregulation is the impairment of the mitochondrial physiological processes (Lalsh, 1993). As we know, the role of mitochondria in the cells of the human body is to provide energy for the body that helps humans to do work. Once these regulatory processes are interfered with, the process of energy manufacturing is also affected: there may be less energy produced or more or imbalanced regarding the time that it is needed. It may be related to chronic fatigue syndrome in the sense that, it may be a causative agent. Lack of enough energy that the body needs is what makes one feel tired hence fatigued (Lalsh, 1993). Therefore, those having chronic fatigue syndrome are likely to have mitochondrial dysfunction. Oxidative stress can be described as the constant imbalance between the manufacturing of the reactive oxygen species, also known as the free radicals and their neutralisation by the antioxidants. The unstable nature of the reactive oxygen species makes them very react ive and renders them the ability to cause great cell damage through breaks and DNA mutation (Shankar & Srivastava, 2012). This phenomenon often leads to irreparable cellular damage. The mitochondrial respiratory cycle plays an